Pyro Unmasked
by C2Vproductions
Summary: The cheerful and oblivious Pyro knows nothing outside of Pyroland, so when his mask is knocked off to reveal a world of war, fire, and death, Panic ensues. Can he just go back to Pyroland, with the knowledge that it is all an illusion? Or will he attempt to cope with this terrifying world, and make some friends along the way?
1. Chapter 1

=============PYRO UNMASKED===========

A Team Fortress 2 Fanfiction by C2Vproductions

Chapter One

The sun was shining over Gravel Pit one beautiful, happy day in Pyroland. Our favorite firebug Pyro stepped out of the BLU spawn room with a triumphant cheer and headed towards the battlefield with a smile on his masked face (Not that anyone would know) and his cute companion Balloonicorn floating by his side.

"Hey, look, Pyro! A Scout!"

Noting his Ballonicorn buddy's alert, the ever-eager Pyro ran towards the flying baby angel, and with a cheer of "Hudda!", the Scout was engulfed in a bright, colorful rainbow of happiness and burst into laughter, rolling on the floor unable to contain itself.

Pyro let out a chuckle and then took a moment to just bask in the glory of this place. What a beautiful world. He sat for a moment, thinking about the joy of the freshly-bloomed lollipop flowers among the grass, the cheerful _mew_s of the floating kittens scampering among the clouds and the silliness of the baby angels, all suited in red, and their laughs every time they were fed a giant lollipop flower or soothed by a rainbow's soft tickle. He then noticed a blue baby angel wearing a metal helmet, sucking on a soother and beckoning for Pyro while standing on a large metal plate inside a small shack labeled "B".

With vigor and cheer typical of the arsonist, Pyro followed and eagerly watched as the light in the center of the plate turned from red to blue. The helmeted baby, satisfied, ran off to the nearby tower, the one labeled "C". That place was usually pretty cheerful, nothing but laughter and fun, so naturally, Pyro followed, Balloonicorn not far behind.

End of Chapter

**Hey. I'm new to this, so forgive my mistakes, grammar or otherwise, and give me an honest, flame-free (no pun intended) review of either happiness or constructive criticism. Also, sorry for the short chapter. Next one will be up soon.**

**See you all then! And PLEASE REVIEW. IF YOU REVIEW, YOUR REVIEWS ARE PUT THROUGH A MACHINE THAT CONVERTS THEM INTO NEW CHAPTERS.**

**okay bye.**

**===Story copyright C2Vproductions 2012===**

**===Characters copyright Valve===**


	2. Chapter 2

==========Pyro Unmasked=========

Chapter 2

Point C was a glorious sight. The Soldiers were firing those bubble-blowing rockets that exploded into confetti up at the Engineer's machines which fired some back at him along with a flurry of small candies. The Snipers were stuffing sweets into everyone's mouths with pinpoint accuracy from 100 yards away. The Spies were playing peekaboo and appearing behind everyone, which they all found to be hilarious. The silly little Scouts flew around the tower feeding others candy canes. The Heavy and his faithful Medic friend were rapid-firing small chocolate bars all over the field. Demoman lay waiting, sticky trap set, waiting for someone to pass by so they could be showered in confetti. and the Pyros themselves, skipped around washing everyone in rainbows. Such a beautiful land, with all of its denizens giggling, sharing, and having tons of fun.

Pyro charged towards the tower, Rainblower washing the area in its lovely glow. As he climbed the ramp, his Rainblower stumbled upon a random Spy, who laughed heartily at the fact he had been discovered in his litte game of hide and seek. Unknown to the Pyro, a Scout trailed behind him sneakily, until Balloonicorn alerted Pyro to this. When Pyro turned around, he was hit by a powerful burst of Skittles from the scout's Force-A-Nature and flew, giggling, right off of the tower.

And his mask flew right off of his head.

"PYRO! GET UP IMMEDIATELY AND HELP US CAPTURE THIS POINT, OR I WILL KICK YOUR MUMBLING ASS BACK TO WHATEVER PLANET IT IS YOU ARE FROM, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Pyro groaned. His head had a wierd, uncomfortable, unhappy feeling in his head, and he didn't like it one bit. He'd never felt anything like it, and he didn't even know what it was called, but he wanted it to go away so he could go back to spreading joy with his Rainblower. He held up a gloved hand to his head - and found his mask missing. He sat bolt upright and opened his eyes to find it - And immediately wished he hadn't.

The scene was _horrifying._ The area he had once known as a beautiful field of lollipops and baby angels was a desert ruin of sand and men blowing holes through each other with their guns. The Soldiers and Demomen were blowing everyone to pieces, the Engineers' machines and Heavies' guns were tearing people to shreds, the Snipers were blowing people's heads off, Spies were tearing open people's backs with knives, and blood was flying everywhere.

And the _screams_.

Instead of the cheerful chuckling and laughter he was used to, blood-curtling screams rang through the air and rattled poor Pyro to the core. He was so scared, _so confused_- all that he could comprehend was that _he wanted to go back_. He frantically looked around for his mask, and found it lying about 10 feet away from him. He scrambled to his feet and dashed towards it - but was stopped dead by that feeling he had felt in his head searing throughout his body. He screamed and looked behind him - it was the Scout, shooting at him with his pistol. But instead of candy, pieces of hot steel flew from the barrel and pierced his skin, causing that same horrible feeling to envelop him. He let out a bone-jarring scream of agony so loud that the whole battlefield could hear and felt himself collapse to the ground, slowly losing consciousness until his whole world went black.

===End Of Chapter===

**OH MY GOD THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! The reception was positive, and that makes me SO HAPPY, but you complained about the length of the last chapter EVEN THOUGH I SAID I WAS SORRY. This one was twice as long, but that still isn't that much, so again, I'M SORRY. Also, regarding the soldier's quote, Pyro is not an alien, Soldier is a retard who wasn't paying attention to the fact that pyro's face was clearly visible. Also, don't expect the updates to roll out this quickly in the future. I hope you liked ch.2 and it didn't completely disappoint you for reasons other than the length, and hope you continue to support this, my first foray into fanfiction.**

**REMEMBER - YOUR REVIEWS ARE WHAT FUEL THE CHAPTER MACHINE.**

**===Story copyright C2Vproductions 2012===**

**===Characters and Places copyright Valve 2007-2012===**


	3. Chapter 3

=======Pyro Unmasked=======

===Chapter 3===

Pyro woke in the BLU spawn room with a sense of panic and scanned the area; same Rainblower, same Baloonicorn buddy, same kitten-and-puppy themed resupply locker. Everything was just how it had always been. He eased a little at this.

Was it all a dream?

That horrible nightmare of the terrifying wasteland lingered in his mind far too vividly, and it all seemed so... real. But something that ridiculously evil _couldn't _exist, could it? The world was a place of happiness and sharing, not horrible screeches and causing each other sadness, fear, and whatever that feeling was. That feeling needed a name... He decided on calling it pain. A fittingly scary-sounding word, he thought.

"Pyro, what are you waiting for?"

Balloonicorn's beckoning snapped Pyro back into focus. Best not to dwell on that horrible nightmare for now. There's better things to be doing.

Pyro ran out of the spawn room and headed towards B. If memory served, everyone was playing between A & C, and they loved suprises. A good sneaky spray of rainbows would make them laugh all the way back to respawn, he thought with a smile.

On his merry way, he found a RED Demoknight with the same idea. He seemed awfully focused, as he didn't even notice Pyro leaving the spawn tunnel, pursuing closely. After a sudden jolt of happiness from behind, the chuckling Demo decided to kindly return the favor. cracker-shield and pretzel stick in hand, he charged straight into the wonderful rainbow and delivered a hit directly to Pyro's side. It tickled. The Demo couldn't last long under the rainbow, however, and collapsed to the ground in laughter.

As Pyro sat watching the guffawing, sparkling Demo fade away to nothing, he had a scary thought. If the Scout's pistol shot small, pain-causing pieces of metal in the nightmare, what did the Rainblower shoot?

Pyro shuddered at the thought. It could really be anything. That red stuff that came out of the people when they got hit, or a constant stream of those metal things, just a few of the horrifying possibilities. there were so many gruesome, horrible things it could be.

As Pyro ran past C and into the tunnels between C and A, most of the BLUs were on the ground, unable to focus or get up from laughter. That's what respawn was for, to calm them down so they could concentrate on causing other people joy. Their RED counterparts were laughing and chatting, as the Medic went around calming people down. And with an excited battle cry, they all got the surprise of their life as Pyro rushed them all from behind and washed them in a stream of pure, undiluted glee which sent them tumbling to the ground in tears of joy in under a second.

But Pyro couldn't help but wonder what horrible thing would be happening to them right now if they were in the nightmare. What had triggered this nightmare in the first place? well, he was climbing C when a Scout blasted him off with his Force-A-Nature, and his mask fell off.

_ His mask fell off._

Was his mask the cause of all this? was his mask the thing that was showing him this wonderful world of happiness, when reality was that horrible nightmare? no. no, that isn't true. that just _can't _be true, can it? _is it?_

He couldn't bear to check, but he couldn't bear to not. he didn't want to know, but he _needed _ to. He couldn't see the world the same way after learning there could be a chance that he was doing nothing but causing people pain and sadness, but he didn't want to risk it being true. But he _had to. _There was no way around it. So with great hesitation, he slowly and nervously raised a gloved hand to his mask, and lifted.

===End of Chapter===

**I'm back! I'm SO SORRY i delayed this, but there's one thing you have to understand; I lose motivation SO EASILY it's downright depressing. So I put it off until last week, when i wrote the first half of this chapter and just couldn't think of anything. So anyway, special thanks to my buddy Necro for getting me to write the end of this chapter. He's writing a fic on Escort mode from TFC, but in TF2, and I suggest you check it out; I'm the one who spell/grammar checked it.**

**So i sincerely hope you liked it, and PLEASE take the 10 seconds to give me some feedback! Reception's been AMAZING so far, and THANK YOU ALL for that! i hope Necro convinces me to write chapter 4 one of these days, but until then, bye!**

**P.S. Apparently Necro goes by frozengnome on this site. Also, the idiot uploaded the PRE-PROOFREAD version of his story. *facepalm***

===All Characters and locations copyright Valve===


	4. Chapter 4

===Pyro Unmasked===

===Chapter 4===

_What have I done?_

Pyro's frail mind was overwhelmed by the scene before him. These poor people were being consumed by this... orange stuff. They were slowly disintegrating under it, their eyeballs melting, their hair vanishing, their skin turning from beige to red to black to dust. Some of them were trying weakly to cry out for help, their molten throats still hopelessly twitching under the weight of the agonized muscle. The rest just lie motionless, unable to even react to this horrible wrath from what appeared to be the physical manifestation of pain itself.

His mind began to race into unknown depths of horror. HE had done this to these poor people. HE had mercilessly slaughtered them with this horrible device, just to see them fade away into nothing, carried back to respawn just to endure the same fate over and over again. HE had been an unrelenting source of fear, panic and the most absolute form of suffering to these sorry souls. This absolute _nightmare_ in front of him was ENTIRELY. HIS. FAULT.

And he didn't even know until now. This mask had turned him into the ultimate harbinger of doom without his knowledge. Every chuckle he'd ever heard in his life - and after 5 years, he'd heard quite a few - had been a cry of pain.

This was too much to bear.

Pyro just collapsed onto the floor in a blubbering, convulsing mess of tears. He couldn't live with this, he couldn't live with _himself_ anymore. This was just too much to take.

* * *

"Teleporter Down!"

Darn. And we'd been making a good push, too.

Engineer ran off towards A, Widowmaker at the ready. His teleporter had been in the shack beside the tunnels from A to C, and the RED's must've found it. Now they'd probably expect him to set up near B's tunnel, but he just decided to put it back. He was kind of nervous about the very likely possibility of finding a baseball bat in his skull in the near future, but his fears were no more when he heard the welcome cry of "FIRE, FIRE, FI-AAUUGH!". That was good news. The Pyro'd taken care of that.

He threw down a teleporter exit in the shack again, with a mini sentry as precaution. He watched as the sentry shot up, and the teleporter slowly whirred to life. But off in the distance he heard some odd noises; A few objects clattering to the ground, a loud slump, and strangest of all, some faint sobbing.

Of course, he went to check it out. Maybe it was that Scout, barely holding on to life after Pyro's attack. But nothing could prepare him for what he saw.

He just stood there, completely stunned. It was _PYRO._ _WITHOUT HIS MASK._

The thing's mask was discarded near it's feet as its asbestos-clad body lie shivering on the hot concrete floor. Its face was obscured by its mop of long, dirty red hair. It was making next to no sound, save for the occasional gasp and faint sob.

So in short; Pyro. The most horribly terrifying being he had ever laid eyes on. was CRYING.

"What in tarnation- Pyro, what's going on?"

Before he could get any response, a very angry RED team rounded the corner, seeking its vengeance.

* * *

Pyro woke in Respawn, still convulsing in agony. Those REDs had returned to cause him more pain. Why? They seemed fully aware of what they were doing. They even seemed HAPPY to be doing this. He then opened his eyes and saw that he was in the safety of that sadistic lie again. Nervously but hurriedly, he tore the mask back off. He didn't want to think about life there anymore. It was all just memories of him unwittingly causing pain, no matter what it seemed like.

"Pyro! What's goin' on? Why aren't ya wearin' yer mask?"

Pyro looked to his left and saw a worried expression on the face of a human Engineer. He wanted so dearly to explain everything, to just pour out his emotions to him, but as he started his voice caught on a sob and he collapsed to the ground once again, with his mask and weapon clattering to the ground with him. No tangible thought crossed his mind anymore, instead just pure emotion filled his entire being. He felt ashamed, sorry, horrified, and even somewhat angry. He couldn't even move as he was just so overwhelmed by these new emotions and their sharp contrast to the pure elation he'd spent his entire existence surrounded by. All of that was gone now. He would never be happy again, even if he chose to put the mask back on and try to forget. He would still know. He would still feel that dark undertone of sorrow, knowing that he had just caused some poor soul so much pain and suffering. His life had just ended, and left behind some pitiful existence of nothing but gut-wrenching sadness. But in the back of his mind, a hint of relief flashed for a brief moment; relief that this had happened now, and not after 10 more years of this.

**===End of Chapter===**

**Aww, I was hoping to break 1000 words with this one. But still, 890 without the A.N.! Also, I nearly cried writing and proofreading this one. How did THIS come out of my happy-go-lucky 14 year old Nintendo fan mind? while listening to F-ZERO X MUSIC? i don't even know...**

**Also, the red hair's for you, Theonetheonlyjabey!**

**Also, THANK YOU GUYS I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU ALL YOU ARE THE BEST THING EVER THANKS SO MUCH ALL MY FOLLOWERS REVIEWERS FAVORITERS YOU ARE ALL SO AWESOME! Maybe more reviews would help cheer me up after this depressionfest of a chapter.**

**And one more thing; R.I.P. my mouse. Now I can't even play TF2. That's even more sad than this story (and that's saying a lot.)**

**Next chapter: Engy goes on a mask-induced acid trip!**

**===All characters and locations Copyright VALVe===**


	5. Chapter 5

===Pyro Unmasked===

===Chapter 5===

** I'm back! Did you forget about me?**

** I'm sorry i've delayed this for so long. I have so much motivation problems, it's a wonder that i've made this many chapters. I mean, i love writing for you guys, and I especially like the reviews I get, but... ANYWAY THIS ISN'T WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR YOU WANT TO HEAR ENGIE GO ON AN ACID TRIP SO HERE YOU GO **

Engineer was a pretty smart man, sure, the 11 PhD's were a testament to that, but even his mind couldn't comprehend the sight in front of him. Pyro was writhing on the ground, having the worst, most depressing crying fit in history. Sure, there were some logical explanations of why he could be crying, but what Engy couldn't understand was why Pyro threw his mask away. The first thought that crossed his mind was that the crying was fogging up the mask, but Pyro seemed so utterly crushed that he couldn't possibly be thinking about mundane issues like that, and he'd cast away the mask with such hatred, such _anger_- like it had wronged him somehow. This also made no sense whatsoever to Engineer, but it seemed to be the most likely explanation.

Engineer curiously picked up the mask. There was nothing wrong with it, it was in perfectly good condition, no shards of glass that could've been cutting him or anything. He couldn't see anything that could've done this to Pyro, so he decided that the best way to find out what was wrong was to try it on, and get the knowledge first hand.

He discarded his hardhat and tried to shove the mask on. It wouldn't fit. He tried shoving it on with all his might, but nothing happened. He tried to tap it on with his wrench, but still, it refused to budge. So he leaned forward, closed his eyes, and ran straight into the wall.

The mask popped on easily under the force of the sprinting Texan, and the force of the impact left Engy sprawling on the floor. He chuckled. That had actually kind of _tickled_. He hastily stood up and opened his eyes.

And what he saw was the most beautiful scenery he had ever laid eyes on.

The dusty, barren landscape had transformed into a perfect little grassy field, full of lollipops and tufts of tall grass. The insides of the tunnels were a beautiful teal, with the direction arrows looking as if they'd just been painted. A soft chorus of laughter rang out from a distance accompanied by the sounds of gunfire and bubbles. This little meadow outside the spawn was nothing short of _paradise._

A loud chuckle came from spawn as an odd little baby angel thing flew swiftly out of spawn. It seemed extatic to be heading out to the battlefield once more, so Engineer decided he would follow.

Off towards C the Engineer excitedly walked, making sure to take in every bit of the scenery. It was all so happy, it just made him feel so secure in its sharp contrast to the world he was used to. He had finally arrived at the tunnel between A and C when a cheerful, childish voice announced that the mission was ending in 60 seconds. At first, he was amused at the adorable little voice, but then he realized that his team was going to lose.

The builder quickly ran off to the left tunnel and looked out. The view of the combat was just incredible, with brightly colored weapons firing candy and rainbows everywhere and causing everyone to break into high-pitched cheers and laughter. A stray gumdrop grazed Engineer in the shoulder, and it tickled. Well, if pain only tickled fim, what did he have to fear? Secure in that thought, he sprinted across the bridge and began to scale the tower.

The tower's defense was holding up quite well, with the RED Engineer, Soldier and Pyro keeping the intruders at bay. The BLU Engy arrived at the top to see a RED Sentry emitting confetti and a BLU Spy convulsing in pure joy, covered in colored sparkles. The RED Engy was prying the sparkling thing off of the sentry, but BLU Engy had him laughing all the way to the ground below with a burst of M&M's Minis from his shotgun. The Soldier tried to retaliate, but the blast of his own bubble-blowing confetti rocket blew him into a mess of gears and bicycle tires. The Pyro advanced on Engy next, but, well, you can't airblast M&M's. And within seconds, that adorable little girl's voice sung to his ears with her ecstatic cry of "Victory!".

He couldn't believe it. Engy had just single-handedly captured the final point. He NEVER captured ANYTHING without support from his team. This was the best thing he'd done in MONTHS for the offense. He was so unbelievably happy that he just couldn't hold it in, he just had to let out a cheer that all of New Mexico probably heard.

But after the excitement had died down, this lovely world only confounded him further. Why did Pyro get all depressed all of a sudden?

===**END OF CHAPTER===**

**Sorry, sorry, sorry, i hate myself for keeping you waiting and then coming out with this crap. I'm horrible at writing action, and with this update schedule i'll never make it to where i want this to go. Also, this chapter was originally going to be longer, but I couldn't make you guys wait more, so you get this short little chapter. sigh... but you've waited long enough.**

**Anyway, reviewers, are you serious? really? you guys are WORSHIPPING me. i mean HOLY F%$#. I know this little fic is decent but "Brilliance itself in FFnet formatting"? WHAT? i don't even know. i just don't know. But whatever, it makes me SO HAPPY to read these things that it just... idontknowbut I LOVE YOU ALL. PLEASE keep it up, best reviewers on planet earth, and if you aren't yet a reviewer, THE BOX IS RIGHT THERE VVVVVV TYPE SOMETHING. NOW. NO SRSLY. NOW RIGHT NOW. THERE IS NO REASON TO NOT. I WILL MURDER YOUR DEAD RELATIVES IF YOU DON'T oh sorry that was a bit harsh... um. just review. kthxbai.**

**===Characters and Locations copyright Valve===**


	6. Chapter 6

I'm working on it. Ch6 is on its way, this is not dead. No worries.

Check back here in a week or so.

===C2Vproductions


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